The Boston Redevelopment Authority recently fixed an illogical irregularity that the proposed project on Mission Hill at 1470 Tremont St. brought to light.
Before that project, the BRA did not have a policy on whether existing units on site would count towards the affordable-housing requirement of a new development. Taken to an extreme example, a developer could have bought a derelict building containing 100 units, knocked it down, and built a new 100-unit luxury tower without it being required to have any affordable units.
Thankfully, the BRA has recognized the error of not having a policy to deal with such a matter and will now require a unit to count towards the affordable-housing requirement if it is substantially renovated. That means the 1470 Tremont St. project will have one more affordable-housing unit because the existing eight units on site will count towards the requirement.